Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Oceans are heating up at a quickening pace, say scientists

News:

• The world’s oceans are heating up at an accelerating pace as global warming threatens a diverse range of marine life and a major food supply for the planet.

Findings:

• The findings of Sciences, previous reports that suggested a so-called pause in global warming in recent years.
• The latest technology shows no such hiatus ever existed, raising new concerns about the pace of climate change and its effect on the planet’s main buffer the oceans.
• About 93% of excess heat trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels accumulates in the world’s oceans.
• The latest report relied on four studies, that gave more precise estimates of past trends in ocean heat, allowing scientists to update past research and hone predictions for the future.
• A key factor in the more accurate numbers is an ocean monitoring fleet called Argo, which includes nearly 4,000 floating robots that “drift throughout the world’s oceans, every few days diving to a depth of 2,000 m and measuring the ocean’s temperature, pH, salinity and other bits of information as they rise back up.
• The new analysis shows warming in the oceans is on pace with measurements of rising air temperature.
• And if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases, models predict that the temperature of the top 2,000 metres of the world’s oceans will rise 0.78 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
• The thermal expansion water swelling as it warms would raise sea level 30 cm, above any sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice sheets.
• While 2018 will be the fourth warmest year on record on the surface, it will most certainly be the warmest year on record in the oceans, as was 2017 and 2016 before that.
• The global warming signal is a lot easier to detect if it is changing in the oceans than on the surface.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Bill to terminate Pakistan designation as major non-NATO ally introduced in Congress

News

• An influential U.S. lawmaker has introduced a legislation in Congress to terminate the designation of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally.

Beyond News

• Introduced by Republican Congressman Andy Briggs, the resolution 73, introduced in the House of Representatives, seeks termination of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally and also sets conditions for its re-designation if any.
• It states, for future redesignation, the U.S. President need to certify to the Congress that Pakistan continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in that country.
• It also seeks certification from the Congress that Pakistan has taken steps to demonstrate its commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven and that the Government of Pakistan actively coordinates with the Government of Afghanistan to restrict the movement of militants, such as the Haqqani Network, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
• The resolution asks the President to certify that Pakistan has shown progress in arresting and prosecuting Haqqani Network senior leaders and mid-level operatives.

India has lost highest number of personnel in UN peacekeeping mission

News

• India has suffered the highest number of fatalities (164 out of 6,593 personnel) among countries that have sent forces to the United Nations peacekeeping mission since 1948.

Beyond News

• Ethiopia and Rwanda have contributed the highest number of personnel, followed by three Asian countries Bangladesh, India and Nepal. These five nations together account for a third of the total peacekeeping force.
• Close to 3,800 personnel have been killed during missions since 1948. Of them, 164 were Indians. Most of the deaths occurred during missions to Congo in the 1960s and former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
• India lost most of its personnel to “malicious acts” (deaths due to factors like revolution, riots, sabotage, terrorism and murder). Accidents and illness were other causes.
• Nearly 80% of the Indian peacekeepers are deployed in Central African Republic and South Sudan in various sections.

Pakistan still cosy with terrorists: India

News

• India urged Pakistan to demonstrate its sincerity for maintaining peaceful ties with India.
• In a scathing remark, the Ministry of External Affairs cautioned Islamabad, saying that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is trying to integrate terrorists into Pakistani society.

Beyond News

• India’s demand for punishing those responsible for the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 2008 and the Pathankot terror attacks of 2016 have not been addressed so far by Pakistan.
• This is the first time since the arrival of the Imran Khan government in 2018 that New Delhi has reminded Islamabad that it has failed to show commitment to control terror.
• Sources said that Pakistan was playing a game where it projected a sincere face through Mr. Khan while in fact it was encouraging terrorism. In this regard the MEA said that some of the anti-terror measures taken during the Nawaz Sharif era were discontinued.
• The MEA’s comments came on the heels of statements by other governments calling for talks between India and Pakistan to break the impasse.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Demonetisation impact: delay in currency exchange irks Nepal

News

• Upset over continued delays from New Delhi in exchanging demonetised currency, Nepal says it will not accept high-value Indian notes until the government gives specific assurances against future shocks.

Beyond News

• Oli government’s recent move to ban all Indian currency notes above ₹100, India was yet to respond to Nepal’s two-year old demand for the return of more than ₹7 crore held officially by the Nepali Rastra Bank (NRB).
• When ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were demonetised on November 8, 2016, neighbouring countries where Indian currency is used, like Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, were left holding large sums of the demonetised currency.
• While India has subsequently settled the issue with Bhutan, it is yet to respond to Nepal’s requests.
• Nepal was particularly affected by demonetisation, as the Indian currency is used in daily transactions and many Nepalis working in India take remittances and savings in cash across the border.
• Recent reports that India has stopped printing the ₹2,000 denomination notes has spurred speculation that they might also be demonetised, worrying people in Nepal.

Smooth-coated otter population on the rise

News

• A family of Indian smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), including four pups, was sighted in the Krishna estuary, indicating a significant rise in the population.
• In 2016, the Wildlife Management Division (Eluru) documented the presence of otter in and around the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary and the estuary.

Beyond News

• The conservation status is ‘vulnerable, ’ according to the International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN). Independent researcher and wetland expert A. Venkata Appa Rao documented the pups.
• The healthy growth of otter population can be attributed to the abundant availability of prey mostly fish in its habitat.
• Winter is the breeding season of the otters. However, they could be sighted in the estuary in all the seasons.

ISRO cranks up Gaganyaan project

News

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said work on ‘Gaganyaan’, the project to send a manned mission to space by 2022, would start soon at the newly created Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC).

Beyond News

• The facility would be staffed by a dedicated team, with ISRO planning to deploy 800 to 900 people over time on the project.
• ISRO’s announcement of the new centre and the naming of its head comes about five months after the government first unveiled plans to send a manned mission to space.
• While ISRO has projected a manpower requirement of 861 personnel for the project, including 761 to be appointed in addition to the routine annual hiring. It expects to recruit the team in stages.
• The heavy lift launch vehicle GSLV Mark III, which got operational in November after its second successive flight in a row, must be suitably certified or human-rated. It will have two non-crew flights in December 2020 and July 2021.

Elephant dung shows plastic threat is wild

News

• A group of wildlife experts in West Bengal spend too much time looking closely at elephant dung that have stumbled upon an alarming discovery: elephants of north Bengal have been consuming plastic and loads of it.

Findings

• Until recently, the 168-km rail line between Alipurduar and the New Jalpaiguri railway station, where over 60 elephants were mowed down by trains between 2004 and 2015, was known for being a huge threat to elephants.
• While studying the Rethi-Moraghat elephant corridor in the region, experts from the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the north Bengal-based Society for Protecting Ophiofauna and Animal Rights (SPOAR) discovered another threat: plastic.
• Experts were following elephant dung over an eight sq km area to understand the movement of elephants. What caught their eye was the presence of plastic in dung piles.
• Elephants eat garbage and that is how plastics enter their system.
• Wildlife enthusiasts and conservationists have pointed out that a number of rivers in north Bengal are filled up with plastic, and in the winter months, as these rivers turn dry, heaps of plastic remain on the river bed.
• In mid-2018, a scientist from Kolkata was alarmed to see plastics in the Torsa river in the Buxa Tiger Reserve. The Buxa Tiger Reserve sustains a large elephant population and the Torsa, which flows from Bhutan to India, is the main water source in the reserve.

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